Why a Palestinian State Will Become a Source of Instability

This is precisely what Egypt and the Arab counties want: to turn the Gaza Strip into an Israeli, and not an Arab, problem.

There is good reason to believe that the Arabs are not going to change their attitudes toward the Palestinians once a Palestinian state is established. The future Palestinian state will have to continue relying on Israeli and Western aid in order to survive.

And if Israel and the West do not come to their assistance, the Palestinians will find themselves begging at the doorsteps of Iran, the Muslim Brotherhood and the Islamic State. Then, the Palestinian state will be anything but a source of stability in the Middle East.

The Palestinians know very well that if and when they have a state of their own, they will never be able to rely on their Arab brethren.

The Arab countries have a long record of turning their backs on the Palestinians, not only with regard to financial aid promises, but even when it comes to basic needs such as medical treatment.

But what will happen after the creation of a Palestinian state? Palestinians say they do not have high expectations that the Arab countries will help them build their state.

Today, it is much easier for Palestinians to receive medical treatment in Israel, Turkey and Germany than in most of the Arab countries.

The tragic case of Razan al-Halkawi, an 11-year-old girl from the Gaza Strip, serves as another reminder of the Arab "betrayal" of the Palestinians.

Al-Halkawi, who has been ill for the past few months, died this week after Egyptian authorities refused to allow her to enter their country for medical treatment.

She and hundreds of Palestinian patients have been unable to leave the Gaza Strip due to the continued closure of the Rafah border crossing. The Egyptian authorities closed the terminal about a month ago after a terror attack in Sinai that claimed the lives of 30 soldiers.

One day after the girl from the Gaza Strip passed away, the Egyptians finally reopened the border crossing for only two days to allow stranded Palestinians on the Egyptian side to return home. Thousands of Palestinians have been waiting for the past four months for the Egyptians to reopen the terminal so that they could enter the Gaza Strip.

Speaking to reporters upon their return to the Gaza Strip, some of the Palestinians voiced outrage over their mistreatment at the hands of the Egyptians.

"The rockets that were falling on us were easier for us than the treatment of the Egyptians," one woman said.

Another woman, Hind Shaheen, said she left the Gaza Strip several months ago to receive medical treatment for cancer. She had been forced to wait for the past 40 days at the Egyptians side of the border before returning home. During this time, she was deprived of the medical treatment she needs for her cancer.

Shaheen said that the stranded Palestinians were left by the Egyptians without food, money or water.

"The situation there is very serious," she added, referring to the Egyptian aide of the border. "People were more afraid there than they were during the last war in the Gaza Strip. The Egyptians want the Palestinians to die."

Others said they were subjected to strict restrictions, including night curfews. "The Egyptians treated each one of us as if we were terrorists," said an elderly man who was among the lucky ones allowed to cross the border back into the Gaza Strip.

But for the little girl from the Gaza Strip who passed way this week, the partial reopening of the Rafah border crossing came too late.

Her relatives say that tensions between Hamas and Fatah also denied her the chance to receive medical treatment in an Israeli hospital. They claim that the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah turned down a request from Hamas to intervene with Israeli authorities to issue a permit for al-Halkawi to be admitted to an Israeli hospital.

Many other cancer patients from the Gaza Strip are likely to meet the same fate as the little girl due to Egypt's continued closure of the Rafah border crossing and ongoing tensions between Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction and Hamas. They are also victims of long-term emotional detachment and apathy of the Arabs toward their Palestinian brethren.

While the Egyptians continue to seal off their border with the Gaza Strip, Israel has become the only hope for the 1.7 million Palestinians living there.

In the period between November 18 and 23, some 2,966 crossed the Erez border crossing with Israel in both directions, according to the Israeli Ministry of Defense's Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories.

In addition, some 1,490 trucks carrying thousands of tons of goods entered the Gaza Strip through the Kerem Shalom terminal along the border with Israel during the same period. The goods consisted of food, construction materials, input for agriculture and medicine products.

How many Arab trucks loaded with goods entered the Gaza Strip over the past month? None.

This is precisely what Egypt and the rest of the Arab countries want: to turn the Gaza Strip into an Israeli, and not Arab, problem.

There is good reason to believe that the Arabs are not going to change their attitude toward the Palestinians once a Palestinian state is established. The future Palestinian state will have to continue relying on Israeli and Western aid in order to survive.

And if Israel and the West do not come to their assistance, the Palestinians will find themselves begging at the doorsteps of Iran, the Muslim Brotherhood and Islamic State. Then, the future Palestinian state will be anything but a source of stability in the Middle East.

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15 Reader Comments

David, Thailand • Dec 5, 2014 at 19:30

"Then, the future Palestinian state will be anything but a source of stability in the Middle East."

What 'future' state? Surely, I mean surely, nobody but the Palestinians and their hate-filled Leftist supporters would argue that such an entity might possibly add to stability in the region.

The so-called 'two-state solution' is actually a 3-state solution (Israel/Gaza/PA) which will in time evolve into two states, neither of which will be Israel.

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Gabrielle • Dec 3, 2014 at 16:24

Israel should help the stranded Palestinians even more on a case-by-case basis because Israel is compassionate and wants to be friendly. A lot of good deeds by Israel are not publicized and should be known to the world.
A Palestinian State would quickly become a terrorist state, as Hamas and/or similar terrorist groups will run it, or they will have violent conflicts over who is to govern the Palestinian State. The Palestinians are not ready for such a move, much as some European countries would like to see it happen. Palestinians need a lot of education, need to shed the indoctrination (such as martyrdom for killers of Israeli's, teaching from a map of Palestine including Israel, training their young to fight Israelis) that should be installed by Arab countries. Please, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, etc., put up schools, colleges, lecturers, community centers where Palestinians can learn to be peaceful, democratic and live next to Israel as good and trustworthy neighbors.

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Albert Reingewirtz • Dec 3, 2014 at 06:53

Gaza exist because of a terrible mistake made by Menachem Begin. He could not bring himself to tell Egypt that if you want the Sinai you have to keep the Gaza strip you created. Begin could not give away any part of the historical land of Israel. The result is this 'terror cancer' in Gaza. In hindsight it's a mistake. Yet consider that Ben Gurion returned Gaza to Egypt after the war of 1956 because it held 250,000 Arab refugees educated to hate Jews. Does anyone know how many people filled with hate toward Jews live today in Gaza?

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Beatrix139 • Dec 2, 2014 at 16:06

Egypt isn't being cruel. They had 31 soldiers killed by Hamas. As for Fatah, why would smart Arab nations waste their money on the pampered darlings of the US and Europe? There are many nations who envy them, including Israel.

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Penina Sarah • Dec 2, 2014 at 01:57

The situation outlined in this article is indeed tragic, as was the death of the young Halkawi girl. It would have meant nothing in the way of his capitulating to Hamas if Abbas had agreed to allow her to enter Israel for medical treatment, but how come the sisters of Ismail Haniyeh (albeit I hear one is married to an Israeli Bedouin) don't need permission from Abbas to intercede for them when they go to Israeli hospitals? One can hardly blame the Egyptians, who are getting killed daily by attacks in the Sinai and elsewhere which they deem are at least in part supported by Hamas, if not authored by them. But the greatest tragedy lies in the intransigence of Hamas leadership to accede to Israel's existence, since without it they are not likely to have much of one of their own...ultimately the blame for this situation lies with them...

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Robert • Dec 1, 2014 at 20:42

The Palestinian people have rights as human beings. If their Muslim brothers will not help, then they must turn to the other "People of the Book", and rely on the good fellowship of Jews and the peaceful followers of Jesus, that great and peaceful Prophet so praised in the Koran. "And we followed up the footsteps of these (prophets) with Jesus the son of Mary, confirming that which was before him and the law, and we brought him the gospel, wherein is guidance and light." (Surah 5:50, translation Palmer).

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Sherralee Woods • Dec 1, 2014 at 18:00

Hi everyone. I know that there are many who shake there heads and feel a deepening sense of horror as it becomes more and more apparent that something really screwy is going on in this conflict. When I speak to friends or associates, the plainest way I can demonstrate to them and put this idiocy into perspective is to take down the globe of the world map and show them the size of Israel. Then point out the size and number of Arab countries and states. Without fail I see a look of incredulous surprise spread slowly across their faces.

Of course I then ask myself the obvious question. How is it that a woman such as myself, who has had a limited education, no historical training and no political affiliation with Israel and lives in a country half the world away from nearly everyone, gets this. I must admit to a boot strap up so to speak.

I read the Leon Uris book 'Haj' and when I closed the last page I said to myself, "I think I get it". I'm not suggesting for a moment that this book by any means encompasses the rich and complex history of the Jewish people, it was a beginning for me. Having said that, I knew well before I read this book that something was seriously wrong with the world view, I had my globe remember. Forget the media rubbish, the pack of hounds who are so blatantly biased are easy to understand. It is the absolute tolerance of their racism which is deeply perplexing. I hold in my heart a quote. I can't remember who wrote it but it is so true; "The only way evil will triumph is for good men to do nothing". So from my little corner of the world I try to do some thing each time I reach for the globe and point out the real state of the 'State of Israel'. God bless you guys, there are people who are not blinded. Sherralee Woods

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Russell • Dec 1, 2014 at 15:26

Whilst thousands of vehicles carrying goods and materials vital for the survival of the people of Gaza and the rebuilding of the damage (caused by Hamas waging rocket attacks against a stronger country). Yet the Palestinians dance in the street when Israeli citizens and Egyptian soldiers are murdered by Hamas terrorists. Israel even contributes to the aid going into Gaza but they will still be hated by these people. Egypt are blocking access because of terrorism against them by Hamas. Lets face it, Hamas the elected government of Gaza, attacks on its neighbours and the smuggling of weapons and terror tunnel digging are the real cause of the hardships to their own people. In democracy, you get what you vote for.

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Yakov Faitelson • Dec 1, 2014 at 13:56

Many countries and world humanitarian movements speak a lot about the danger of a humanitarian crisis which is at the beginning in the Gaza Strip. They ignore the basic humanitarian solution for such cases that exists in all other places in the world. For this task the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) was established.

This Commission has very effective programs that allow refugees freely emigrate from the dangerous areas and help their resettlement in other safe countries. But UNHCR is not in charge for treating the Arab refugees from Palestine. For this purpose another special body was established - UNRWA refugee agency.

Unlike the regular treatment of refugees in all other cases, as UNHCR does, UNRWA works consistently to preserve the Arab refugee status and even includes in the definition of the refugee also the children, grandchildren and great grandchildren of the original refugees. UNRWA, as distinct from the UNHCR, doesn't works in purpose to solve the problem of the Arab refugees and for their permanent resettlement in other countires. This not only perpetuates the problem of these refugees, but increases artificially and without end their numbers.

Those who really want to solve the humanitarian problem of Arabs of Gaza in general and Arab refugees in particular, should act in purpose to dismantle the UNRWA and for transferring the Arab refugees issue to the UNHCR, while ensuring the existing rules for the resolution of the problem of refugees as UNHCR does in all other places around the Globe.

At the same time, in view of the deteriorating situation in the Gaza Strip, Israel should strive to reach an agreement with Egypt and the UNHCR with support of other countries and organizations who are concerned about the danger of the humanitarian disaster, for the opening of special protected corridors for free emigration of those Gazans who would desire it.

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DockyWocky • Dec 1, 2014 at 13:49

So any possible future Palestinian state will continue relying on Israeli and Western aid in order to survive. So why continue Israeli and Western aid at all?

I don't understand why Israelis contribute to Palestinians. Maybe if they stopped, the Palestinians would go away.

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Albert Reingewirtz DockyWocky • Dec 10, 2014 at 15:30

There horrible part is that from the funds Abbas get from the E.U., the USA and from Israel he pays jailed murderers salaries much bigger than his police's salaries. That is how families in the PA live large from the salaries of their jailed family members. In effect everybody is promoting Islamic terror in the PA while fighting it in Syria.

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Bart Benschop • Dec 1, 2014 at 09:51

Dear Sir,

If the Israeli had any sense they would not supply Gaza untill the Gazans stop attacking Israel and respond positively to Israeli supply.Egypt no longer supports the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas with the result that these groups are treated as blasphemers.

Kind regards,

Bart Benschop

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Bobbie Beth Knauer • Dec 1, 2014 at 08:10

Historically there is no such group as Palestinians. As you know, both Arabs and Jews were known as "Palestinians" historically if they lived in the area of Palestine.

Regarding this excellent article, although the Israelis are being bombed and treated savagely by those in Gaza, Hamas, ISIS, & 'Palestinians', the Israelis treat the "Palestinians" much better than their Arab 'brothers."

Yet, Israel / Jews receive horrible treatment world-wide!!!

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Lee • Dec 1, 2014 at 06:55

Believing in miracles perhaps the Gazans will realise just what good neighbours the Israelis are. But I also believe in pink elephants!!

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Hanna • Dec 1, 2014 at 06:10

The many Arab countries in the Middle East are the true cause for the Palestinian refugee problem, in the first place. At the Arabs' encouragement (not Israel's) they left Palestine during during Israel's war of independence and came back as refugees and remained refugees ever since. When the Palestinians, finally, realize who their REAL friends are they might even have a state of their own one day. The only REAL friend they have IS Israel. When will they ever learn?